Evidence based practice in education: Between science and democracy

Abstract

In this chapter I provide a critical review of the suggestion that education should be turned into an evidence-based or evidence-informed profession and that educational research therefore focus on generating knowledge about 'what works.' I focus on three aspects of the discussion: the notion of educational practice, views about knowledge, and the ways in which research can be of practical use; in order to identify key ideas and assumptions and submit them to critical scrutiny. In all three cases I identify a tendency that the outcomes of a particular kind of educational research replace professional and democratic judgement. I provide an alternative way of understanding educational practice, educational knowledge and its practical use that places judgement back at the centre of educational considerations.